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First Person Shooters (Games)

Project Offset FPS Amazes 156

Posted by Zonk from the bring-the-shiny dept.
Spaceman40 wrote to mention a post up on Joystiq about a beautiful next-gen FPS called Project Offset. From the article: "Doom 3 engine? Was nice knowing you. UT? Old news. Source? Over there. We'll call you if we need you. You can all stand back, though. There's a new king on the way to town. Project Offset is a new first person shooter, and the developer is showing off what their new graphics engine can do. The movies are not pre-rendered. The developer says they're all real time...The demo looks amazing! Videos are available at the official site.'"
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Project Offset FPS Amazes More

Project Offset FPS Amazes

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  • Cool. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jericho4.0 ( 565125 ) on Friday August 12, 2005 @01:22AM (#13301216)
    In this day and age of skyrocketing game budgets, it's very cool to see a competitive engine being done by three guys in an ampartment. HDR, self shadowing, and an editor.

    Maybe this engine will be licenced in a way that indy developers can use it.

    • Re:Cool. (Score:4, Informative)

      by abandonment ( 739466 ) <mike.wuetherick@NOSPaM.gmail.com> on Friday August 12, 2005 @01:47AM (#13301328) Homepage
      at least one of the developers worked on the very cool indie games festival winner 'savage: battle for newerth' (sp?) as well, so they have already proved that they can do some cool stuff, game-design wise

      unfortunately the character designs are less than inspired...so many games doing the same kind of blah characters...

      but very inspiring to have a team like this blowing the lid off the whole 'throw away your code' attitude that gabe newell spouted a few weeks back, and the 'indie developers wont be able to compete' line that EA tried to pass off a while back as well.

      lets hope the online play is as innovative as savage was (even being the natural selection ripoff that it sorta was)...combining an rts, fps and 3rd person game into a very fun online action game...

      savage did things in it's online play that haven't been seen in an action game before or since, with the ai controlled npc's mining resources and other very cool things like that.

      looking forward to seeing how this project (pardon the pun) progresses...
      • I've been Googling for this Savage game and haven't found a link. Where can I find more info?
      • the "game design" page on their site is saying "enemy territory with a grain of battlefield put into a cheap LOTR ripoff", they are just using more words for communicating that message.

        but hey, if they manage to pull that off, nice, i just would not bet my money on it.

        another question is why a big-battle multiplayer shooter would need all those graphic goodies they advertize, guess most of that would need to be eaten by level-of-detail even on next-next generation hardware. considering the gameplay they are

        • Re:Cool. (Score:3, Informative)

          by drakaan ( 688386 )
          another question is why a big-battle multiplayer shooter would need all those graphic goodies they advertize

          They were pretty up front about that, honestly. They want to make a cinematic epic game for next-gen hardware (paraphrasing). To go epic, you need lots of characters, and places for them to run around in and do things. To go cinematic, you need "all those graphics goodies". Then they specifically say "to run on next-gen hardware"...

          What is there to not understand?

          What they should focus on is ma

          • " I've wanted a game like that (RTS/FPS with realistic graphics) for as long as there have been computer games, really."

            To have a game that is the feel of a classic RPG (epic battles, might and magic, etc..) with the control of a FPS, this is something I would jump on in a heartbeat...

            To me all of the WOW and EQ games look cartoonish and out of sorts... blows away the whole immersion aspect of the game to me.. to date the only thing rhwy have done with massivley multipler FPS is army simulations (BF2, BF194
            • What I want is this:

              I start out with a scene looking down on my team (army, band, whatever) from above, Warcraft III-style, but nicely rendered.

              I click on a guy to directly control, and the scene zomms and pans until I'm looking at the same scene through his/her eyes.

              There are so many things that could be done that haven't been (at least not well)...someday, my game will find me. Maybe it'll be this one.

              • If you can find it... try Dungeon Keeper 2

                It has this exact functionality that you are describing.. although it is a rather old game (5+ years or so) it's gameplay is unduplicated since it's arrival...

                You can prolly find it in a bargain bin for 5 bucks or floating around somewhere...
                • I'll keep my eyes peeled...who was the publisher?
                  • Bullfrog was the original publisher, then i think it got picked up by EA who now offers it as a bargain bin item at like fry's or best buy (if you can find it...)

                    Searching on ebay i was able to find a number of copies selling, often at a starting price of 1 dollar with a total price of 5 with shipping...

                    Just search for Dungeon Keeper 2

                    (the harder part will be finding the latest patches, but google should be able to help...)

      • Re:Cool. (Score:3, Informative)

        by Slothy ( 17409 )
        Honestly, we were working on Savage before Natural Selection was announced or released. As similar as they turned out to be, neither influenced the other at all. Nobody at S2 was playing NS while we worked on Savage.

        That said, both games I think are great.

  • Hrmm (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I dunno, this post alone seems like the work of a hype machine. I'm downloading it right now and expect to see something that leavs D3/HL2/UT2004 in the dust

  • Torrent (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Torrent of highest definition version of the latest video. [projectoffset.com]

    Make sure to watch this before commenting. Seriously. Has a BUNCH of seeds.
  • Thats cool, but I really don't care. If I wanted a movie I'd have rented one. I bought a game because I wanted to have fun. Its still more fun to duel someone in quakeworld than doom3, and I can play qw on a p100. (Or on a much much better system with 24bit textures, particle explosions, per pixel lighting, and anything else you can think of thanks to the wonders of open source)
    • Why is this modded insightful? It in no way addresses the blurb or game in any way. You don't want to watch the movie, then don't download it. How can you dis a game before it's even playable?

      There are those of us who were unaware of this project who are now interested in following its progress, and it's unprecedented that an independent developer (let alone three people in an apartment) creates this type of AAA engine. Whether it ends up living up to its claims is another thing, but at least now we will
      • I think is modded insightful because the point of the post is that visuals aren't everything, but the gameplay and the general feeling that you are gamimg, that you are doing something, that you are part of the action, not just simply espectating...

        • Even if the poster meant that... how is it insightful? The same post has appeared on every gaming story on Slashdot... it's not new, it's not insightful, and my response is always, "well, if you don't like it, don't buy it."

          So, to the original submitter: "If you don't like it, don't buy it." No need to be a jackass to these guys working on the engine by basically saying, before it's even playable, that they don't give a crap about gameplay.
          • Because its impossible to judge gameplay on a techdemo, making the whole thing a big circlejerk.

            Maybe its going to be the second coming of christ, maybe its going to be Daikatana 2: Electric Boogaloo, you just can't tell from a movie of the engine. Should I have put on a GamePro hat and said
            LOOKING FOR THE GAME OF THE YEAR? LOOK NO FURTHER THIS GAME WILL HAVE IT ALL. VERTEX SHADING, DYNAMIC LIGHTING, REALISTIC UBERPHYSICS, GREAT DIALOG AND AN INTERESTING STORY. even though all you know is that it can amke

      • Re:Thats cool but.. (Score:2, Informative)

        by usrusr ( 654450 )
        according to the site it's one guy creating that engine.

        the other two are responsible for the nice "i just saw 'the two towers' at the cinema and it was sooo cool" paintings and the character modelling.

        which might not be too bad, but it is always easier to do that for a fantasy setting than for something people know how it should look like, and i admit that i did not download/see the movie (compression artifacts blur out the ugliness of game engine artifacts anyways, with the right codec even half-life 1 lo

  • Just one small point (Score:3, Insightful)

    by FidelCatsro ( 861135 ) <.fidelcatsro. .at. .gmail.com.> on Friday August 12, 2005 @02:01AM (#13301397) Journal
    This is , right now a tech demo and not a game .
    No matter how good it looks right now it does not represent how the game will play or even perhaps the actual in game graphics. So its a little early to be calling the Death of Unreal Tournament and the Unreal engine etc.
    It does look nice and the games description sounds fun as well , but then so did Daikatana's description and screenshots .

  • Not a game engine (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RzUpAnmsCwrds ( 262647 ) on Friday August 12, 2005 @02:04AM (#13301403)
    The DOOM3 engine, Source, and Unreal Engine are all complete products. They have physics, AI, gameplay logic, networking, and a lot more built in. Unreal Engine even includes its own install system.

    It's a cool tech demo, but it's a long way from being a competitive engine. You need more than pretty visuals to sell an engine, you need an environment that makes developing games cheaper.
    • What do you mean? The market is entirely based on game-looks, not game-play.

      People were disappointed with Doom 3's ultra shallow gameplay, but you won't find out till 3 weeks after you bought that eye candy.

      • Re:Not a game engine (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Lisandro ( 799651 ) on Friday August 12, 2005 @03:19AM (#13301700)
        He was talking about developers. These days games seem to be all about graphics (sadly enough), but all the amazing graphics this technology has to deliver are of no use for game developers if they can't work with it. High profile engines like D3 and Unreal offer a full developement framework which makes development easier (and cheaper), covering pretty much everything a game developer could need. Including graphics.

            As for the sneak preview video itself... wow. It is mindblowing, and the motion blur effect alone makes the graphics much better. Still, i'd like to know what kind of hardware rendered that in realtime. And yes, for all we know, this is nothing more than a tech demo. An amazing tech demo, yes, but i've seen a lot [nzone.com] of amazing tech demos [nvidia.com] elsewhere... i'll reserve judgment until the game is out.
    • Just because they didn't annouce every single thing that is in their engine, doesn't mean they dont have them.

      From the video there appeared to be at least simple physics.

      "You need more than pretty visuals to sell an engine, you need an environment that makes developing games cheaper."

      Did you read their site at all? That's what their whole mission is about, making games cheaper and easier to develop.
    • It is not a game development platform / engine.

      It is not designed to be sold (yet) they are developing a game with it, that is the difference.

      Doom 3 engine can command millions in licensing and royalities (from the site they are very open).

      But, their intent is to use their game engine as a game engine, not to sell it 'competively'.

      One more day turning up the contrast on the subtle flaws in the logic of fellow /.ians.

      • Wrong - It is a game engine

        It is not a game development platform / engine.

        So is it a game engine or not? They are very clear on the site that they are designing it as a game engine and platform to allow developers easy to use tools for all their needs. Sounds basically like the Unreal or iD offerings. The only difference is their package is not finished yet.

        Quote directly from their website: The Offset Engine is a complete platform for creating next generation games. Though it aims to be a top tier e

        • Thei goals are stated clearly - to produce the game (the engine of course will probably become productized). Saying something isn't something when a) it is early days and b) they are not stating that intent is just trollish.

          I for one think this looks awesome, and hope this makes EA realise what arsebandits they are!

          I wonder what PA think of this... they like fantasy stuff, and WoW... they are worse than /. geeks.
      • It is not a game development platform / engine... their intent is to use their game engine as a game engine, not to sell it 'competively'.

        From the "Technology" section of projectoffset.com:
        "The Offset Engine is a complete platform for creating next generation games. Though it aims to be a top tier engine, OE is not just built with large developers in mind. Every aspect of the engine is designed around the goal of reducing development time and cost, while empowering designers and artists with the tools
        • I quoted their goals, and acknowledges that they would market the game engine, but it was in response to someone flaming their efforts, saying 'it cannot complete' with UT* engines etc, because it is immature.

          Which was not a bad call. Look at my post in context +3 insightful, patish.

  • These guys have a good History!! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by spineboy ( 22918 ) on Friday August 12, 2005 @02:29AM (#13301496) Journal
    These three guys are/were part of the 7 man team who created Savage (S2 games) - a must have for ANY Linuxer who plays games. I still play this game 2 years after it came out. The only other game I have ever done that with was Diablo II.

    If these guys keep with that spirit/tradition of Savage, then this game will be awesome.
    Yes, we all know by now that pretty pictures don't make a good game, but this game looks like it will have both.

  • so... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anm ( 18575 ) on Friday August 12, 2005 @03:06AM (#13301642)
    First, let me say that I respect these guys and their prior work in Savage, and it sounds like they have a good architecture for a realtime graphics engine. That said, I don't see much invovative work here compared to other unreleased engines. Unreal 3 supports the HDR and normal mapping described on their website. The website also doesn't mention anything about physics or scripting, but it doesn't mean it isn't there. While scripting can be tacked on relatively easily, I have heard from other game developers that first rate physics engines like Havok have specific unusual requirements to maximize the use of vector processing instructions. And one of the bigger questions in future game enginge design I don't see being address is for multicore processing. Lastly, I don't believe these guys have any background on consoles.

    Nonetheless, I'm rooting for their success, even if its a niche or lesser market.

    Anm
    • They mention more detail about the planned game here [projectoffset.com] including a rough description of the intended physics.
  • I'm one of those Nintendo fans who looks at gameplay before graphics. But I was very impressed with the video. In fact, the idea of a FPS fantasy game sounds like a lot of fun. The sound cut out near the beginning of the movie clip. What platform is this going to be on?

  • Just once... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Wilson_6500 ( 896824 )
    I'd like to see a press release touting nothing more than a game's "amazing, breathtaking plot and involving, even charming characters!" that turns out to be a tech demo for a novel, rather than a movie showing how much more realistic is the shine in some nameless girl's eye. Maybe instead of graphics engines and physics engines, developers should focus on generating some kind of "plot engine."

  • Looks Nice (Score:2, Informative)

    by MoriaOrc ( 822758 )
    Unfortunetly it's only a sign of things to come when you're computer can't even render a video of the engine at 15 FPS.

    :(
  • I can't seem to play this movie using mplayer. Does it mean I would have to install MSMP for OSX? Sorry, project something, you lost me at "hello"...
  • I think these guys have watched the LOTR films too much:

    http://projectoffset.com/game.html [projectoffset.com]

    Humans, Elves and Dwarves.... and a Wizar in white... even One of those flying scarey things [projectoffset.com]

    Oh well, looks good I guess :-)

  • Here be duck-dragons (Score:5, Insightful)

    by PromANJ ( 852419 ) on Friday August 12, 2005 @04:40AM (#13301959) Homepage Journal
    I was playing a pretty good fantasy adventure game the other day. I started out near a castle where I found this awesome spear that I walked around with for a while. Suddenly a dragon ambushed me! I tried to defend myself but I held the spear akwardly and the dragon swallowed me whole!

    I was thinking Game Over man, Game over, but instead I was trapped inside the dragon's belly where I struggled for long to no avail. Then out of the sky swooped a giant bat, picked up the dragon with me inside its belly! The bat flew high into the sky, and actually gave me a nice little sightseeing of the fantasy world from above.

    Why does it take a 27 year old game to Shock and Awe me?
    It's funny how an abstract little square can look better than a 20 million polygon monster. But after all, what's all that detail worth if you fail to do anything interesting with it? Detail is only limiting the expression to something very defined, and the more you define something, the smaller is the chance that you push the right buttons.

    So no thanks, I'd rather be a attacked by a lowrez duck-dragon.
    • Could a moderator please explain to me what makes this post "insightful?" What "insight" is being conveyed here? That the poster doesn't like fancy graphics? A clone of the same posting that's been appearing on every game-related story since the topic was added?

  • Looks pretty, but... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by biodeo ( 741781 )
    How well will it run?

    The Source engine is so great because it has great visuals while still running at a good framerate. The new engine being used in F.E.A.R. for example, looks pretty good, but runs like crap. "Realtime" doesn't mean much when you talking about top of the line hardware 2 years from now. Making nice visuals is easy, making it run on realistic hardware isn't.

    (note: I will tip my hat though, that motion blur was nice)

    • The new engine being used in F.E.A.R. for example, looks pretty good, but runs like crap.

      Runs like crap? Seemed fine to me, and I only have a Radeon 9800 pro. Granted, I was running at 1024x768 and most things set at medium.

    • Depends on the timeframe they're looking at for release. More than likely we're looking at an engine designed to run on what will be realistic hardware a couple years from now.
  • It's hard to judge how a finished product will turn out from a few breif minutes of video. There are many questions about the engine we likely will not have answered anytime soon.

    We can't very well say much about the engine itself, how easy it is to use, or when it really comes down to it, how much money would it save so-and-so when they're making this game or that.

    But we can say a few things about the game itself. We may not be able to judge the plot very well at this stage, but if it's even half as promis

  • S2 guys = great game (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Tom ( 822 ) on Friday August 12, 2005 @05:04AM (#13302016) Homepage Journal
    Three of the guys are from S2, the small company that made Savage.

    For me, that means 2 things:

    One, it's going to be a great game. Savage was the first FPS game in years that I really enjoyed.

    Two, there is a fair chance that it'll be available for Linux, as they already have experience with Savage, and AFAIK they found out there that Linux users give more and higher quality feedback.
  • The movies are not pre-rendered. The developer says they're all real time...
    i just wiped my ass clean after shitting, would you pull my pants to check that?

    am i right or the more demonic, ugly, unnatural the characters are the better the "engine" is?
    or is it so much easier to create ugly things instead of beauty?

    • Re:re (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      is it so much easier to create ugly things instead of beauty

      Take a look in the mirror and ask your momma how easy it was to make you :)

    • Re:re (Score:2)

      by shawb ( 16347 )
      Of course it's easuer to create ugly things instead of beatuful things. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: every person has their own very specific, detailed idea of what true beauty is. Ugly is pretty much universal.

      Also, "unnatural" movements are much more acceptable if the thing is supposed to be ugly. And you don't need to render such things as how the light changes as it plays over the skin which is moving ontop of the underlying skeletal and muscular systems. Oh, and you don't need to render

  • Holy Crap (Score:2, Interesting)

    by BrainsVolpe ( 636343 )
    As much as I am.... blown the hell away by the graphics, I'm more interested in the gameplay. Bows, maces, dragons, orges... Now that's some hot shit.
    • Now that's some hot shit.

      Every time I see that, it reminds me of Orgasmo.

      "I don't wanna sound queer or nothin'; but unicorns totally kick ass!"

  • Single Player? Rant. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dbhankins ( 688931 ) on Friday August 12, 2005 @06:59AM (#13302335)
    Having wasted my time checking out Savage, and looking at the video, it's time to rant:

    Why is it that so many people who put out multiplayer-only games fail to mention it anywhere in their game descriptions, websites, etc? There are those of us who prefer single player games.

    It took quite a bit of looking at reviews of Savage and reading between the lines to figure out that it has no single-player component.

    Since the game devs seem to think that MP games are the only kind that count, I'll have to assume that "Project Offset" is also MP-only. Too bad. A single-player fantasy FPS with pretty graphics might have attracted my gaming dollars.

    Yeah, I bought Doom3 for the graphics engine as much as anything. And enjoyed it. So sue me.
    • Since the game devs seem to think that MP games are the only kind that count, I'll have to assume that "Project Offset" is also MP-only. Too bad. A single-player fantasy FPS with pretty graphics might have attracted my gaming dollars.

      Multiplayer often gets much more attention online because we are online and gameplay can change at any moment...much like replies to posts on forums such as this one.

      Single player games have a much more limited number of variations of gameplay. The game is scripted and
  • If you'll note, only the single-char demo said "Realtime"... and the graphics for that aren't anything an nvidia demo hasn't done before. There's a big difference between one character on screen and dozens, plus weapon effects, UI, local environment, distance environment...

    For all we know, the "gameplay" in the video renders as poorly as, say, Tribes 2 does. (Kidding , I love you guys)

    Now, to truly rant: ...remember how good DOOM3 looked in the demos? And how much the gameplay was like turning your monitor

  • I Want This Now! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rAiNsT0rm ( 877553 ) on Friday August 12, 2005 @10:52AM (#13303891) Homepage
    Holy S#$%! That is amazing. I don't care how many people want to downplay this or put it down... I've been a game reviewer/playtester for over 4 years and this is impressive!

    Fantasy, FPS, realism, this has it all to be THE game to finally get FPS' out of their rut. Anyone and everyone who has way outgrown the immaturity and predictableness of the FPS genre should be on this bandwagon for sure.

    It takes a lot to get my attention and this one has it fully. Please dear lord, let this not be vapor and or get changed into a carbon copy of theif or some such to please a corporate backer. We need new blood, and before the next gen consoles hit and they get the usual glut of doom/halo clones now is the perfect time to still influence new titles.

  • Checked your 3d card expiration date lately? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by AzraelKans ( 697974 ) on Friday August 12, 2005 @11:01AM (#13303964) Homepage
    As impressive as the engine looks, the big power behind it draws from the power of today high end PC's
    (ati x, geforce 7 sli combined with multiple CORE cpu's) you may want to sit down if you didnt know, but Its quite possible to do PS3 and X360 quality graphics on it TODAY, actually better than those.

    Unfortunately the price is still in the high price range (but will drop eventually) so you probably want to wait before being awed by graphics such as this in your own monitor (check out the ati/nvidia sites for further info). however PC's will eventually beat consoles in the graphics dept (as always)

    BTW That game is PC based.

    Why does it look better than doom3 and UT engine? easy it uses THIS generation latest tech , doom3, source and UT use the prior generation tech but at least are capable of running in a Medium end PC.

    On the game side I really have to aplaud S2 design, the game will be a weird mix between D&D and Halo. Imagine Halo with Dragons, magic arrows and Orcs instead of warthogs, needlers and covenants and you have a pretty good idea of what this will be like (how come no one thought about that before?).

    On the negative side Im not sure I like the name and also their motto is wrong, The first Fantasy FPS was Heretic followed closely by Hexen. Im not sure Raven is going to be pretty happy with their trailer.

    Anyway I wouldnt count out the next generation of console games NOT to include those effects in their engines, everybody knows each generation of console games is better than the last. Is going to be a neat contest.

    And please spare me the "graphics dont make games" speech, we are talking about graphics here not gameplay.

  • How many times has an FPS came out with videos portraying it to be revolutionary, and then dissapointed people and not lived up to it's claims

    I think I will reserve judgement on whether this is "amazing" until I get my grubby mits on it.

  • Clarifying a couple things (Score:4, Informative)

    by oSammy ( 907217 ) on Friday August 12, 2005 @03:38PM (#13306512) Homepage
    Hey guys, just to clarify a couple things: - We're ex developers of S2 Games, but no longer affiliated with them. Offset Software is a new company. - Project Offset is not a multiplayer only game. We have a single player and coop mode planned. I've been developing this engine for about a 1.5 years now, and Travis and Trevor (the artists) started helping me out full time about six months ago. We feel like we've been making good progress, but we don't plan on completing the game with only the three of us, so we are looking for publishing opportunities and other forms of funding (licensing the engine...) Our goal is not to just make a game with pretty graphics. We're dedicated to making the gameplay equally as good. Sam McGrath www.projectoffset.com [projectoffset.com]
    • Hey guys, just to clarify a couple things:

      - We're ex developers of S2 Games, but no longer affiliated with them. Offset Software is a new company.
      - Project Offset is not a multiplayer only game. We have a single player and coop mode planned.

      I've been developing this engine for about a 1.5 years now, and Travis and Trevor (the artists) started helping me out full time about six months ago. We feel like we've been making good progress, but we don't plan on completing the game with only the three of us, so we
  • I don't want motion blur. Motion blur is an idiotic concept designed to ape the inferior 27fps of movies or 30fps of TV from the Neanderthal days of technology.

    In the original Quake, on a fast computer, pre-3dfx, the software renderer, though pixelly, could do faster than 60fps. It ceased to look like a game, and started looking like you were looking through a window at a blocky, but real world.

    STOP WITH THE DAMNED MOTION BLUR CRAP, BUFFOONS! God almighty! Stop it. Just stop it.

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